First time I ever heard of Jerome was when Maynard Keenan was a guest in the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (JRE episode 246). I've been a long time admirer of Maynard's multiple projects but I was unaware of his wine business in this little town of Arizona until that inspiring episode.
“Thick, Dense, Rich & Complex.
And you should hear how
they describe my wine....”
My fiancé had been to this town before and I couldn't wait to go there, so while visiting Arizona this place was in our priority list.
Jerome, AZ used to be a mining town where in the 1920s its population peked at 15,000 but after the Great Depression and WWII the population severely dropped to less than 100 residents in the 1950s. Tourism saved this town from completely disappearing and little by little it became more stable with the opening of restaurants, cafes and art galleries. It reminds me in so many ways of beautiful Marfa, TX.
This town is called "America's Most Vertical City" due that it's perched on the mountainside making it inclined by 30-degrees; also it's known as the "Largest Ghost Town in America" but I see it alive and flourishing, and if we wanted a scenic town, well we found it. Overlooking Verde Valley from here is simply amazing.
Among the restaurants, coffee shops and craft stores we bumped into a couple of places worth of the attention of any TOOL/ A Perfect Circle/ Puscifer fan: The Puscifer Store (clothing, accessories, vinyls, even a barber station) and next door Caduceus Cellars.
Because of its uniqueness and weirdness I can say Jerome is in my top 10 of cool places around the world. It's an oasis of coolness and a place I'm definitely going back to!